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Physicochemical and biological quality of soil in hexavalent chromium-contaminated soils as affected by chemical and microbial remediation

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Abstract

Chemical and microbial methods are the main remediation technologies for chromium-contaminated soil. These technologies have progressed rapidly in recent years; however, there is still a lack of methods for evaluating the chemical and biological quality of soil after different remediation technologies have been applied. In this paper, microbial remediation with indigenous bacteria and chemical remediation with ferrous sulphate were used for the remediation of soils contaminated with Cr(VI) at two levels (80 and 1,276 mg kg−1) through a column leaching experiment. After microbial remediation with indigenous bacteria, the average concentration of water-soluble Cr(VI) in the soils was reduced to less than 5.0 mg kg−1. Soil quality was evaluated based on 11 soil properties and the fuzzy comprehensive assessment method, including fuzzy mathematics and correlative analysis. The chemical fertility quality index was improved by one grade using microbial remediation with indigenous bacteria, and the biological fertility quality index increased by at least a factor of 6. Chemical remediation with ferrous sulphate, however, resulted in lower levels of available phosphorus, dehydrogenase, catalase and polyphenol oxidase. The result showed that microbial remediation with indigenous bacteria was more effective for remedying Cr(VI)-contaminated soils with high pH value than chemical remediation with ferrous sulphate. In addition, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was proven to be a useful tool for monitoring the quality change in chromium-contaminated soils.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51074191) and National Public Welfare Research Project of Land Resource (201211067–3) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Metallurgical Science and Engineering, Central South University, 410083, Changsha, China

    Yingping Liao, Xiaobo Min, Zhihui Yang, Liyuan Chai, Shujuan Zhang & Yangyang Wang

  2. National Engineering Research Center for Heavy Metals Pollution Control and Treatment, Changsha, 410083, China

    Xiaobo Min, Zhihui Yang & Liyuan Chai

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  1. Yingping Liao
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  2. Xiaobo Min
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  3. Zhihui Yang
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  4. Liyuan Chai
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  5. Shujuan Zhang
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  6. Yangyang Wang
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Correspondence to Zhihui Yang.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Liao, Y., Min, X., Yang, Z. et al. Physicochemical and biological quality of soil in hexavalent chromium-contaminated soils as affected by chemical and microbial remediation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 379–388 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1919-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1919-z

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